


Too little (love), too late (to say sorry)

by Katonica



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Gun Violence, I love writing these, Irondad, Mentions of Waterboarding, Spiderdead, a lot of it, death from bullets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-11 23:51:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16862326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katonica/pseuds/Katonica
Summary: "Peter? No, that's pathetic.""Peter. I'm so sorry- No.""Peter, I swear on my useless life that I- God, I love you.""Come back to me,please."





	Too little (love), too late (to say sorry)

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome... To my angst. 
> 
> Please take a seat and enjoy the ride. Reminder to keep all comments honest because I love reading them and if I'm a Twilight/fake Marvel fan, then... ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Tony had always been late: to meetings, deals, parties, even nearly being late for his wedding. 

But this time, Tony is there _too_ late.

He knows because the boy's breathing has become too shallow, the bullet holes in his body dripping blood instead of the gush of crimson that would have been there if he had been earlier.

Peter's whispering something and Tony can't hear the boy.

In his panic, Tony rips off the carefully crafted mask that he and Peter had poured their heart into, hearing the fabric rip and the wiring snap faintly, but he cares more about the glassy eyes of Peter Parker, looking into the sky like he sees something there.

Tony is leaning closer, hugging the boy, trying to shake the pale body awake as he strains his ears to listen to Peter's words. He doesn't hear them.

Slowly, Peter sighs, blinking once, twice... And his eyes shut, permanently.

Tony's screaming now, shaking the boy with more force than necessary as Rhodey seems to come out of nowhere, trying to drag Tony away from Peter when all Tony has to do is to tickle the boy so he wakes up, just like he used to do.

He can't leave Peter right now. He can't. He didn't hear what Peter said, and he wanted- No,  _needed_ to hear them before he left.

What if Peter had said his last goodbyes to someone? What if he had said the name of his killer? What if he had said something to  _him?_

He struggled against Rhodey, tears falling to the ground in eerie timing, that matched the blood drop onto the disgusting concrete floor, his voice becoming a disorienting scream as he continued to fight to reach the boy again.

The cold glassy eyes of Peter stared up at him, with a pained look that Tony could not understand. 

Why had the boy who was so lively,  _gone_?

Why had the boy who was so  _happy, gone?_

Why had the boy who _was so full of life, dead?_

Something hits his neck and he can't feel anything else as he falls to the ground. His eyes quiver shut, the last words out of his friend's mouth being, "I'm sorry, Tony."

 

* * *

 

After a week of mourning, Tony's standing in a tuxedo in front of a small crowd of teenagers and heroes alike, who all grieve for the same person, who's been dressed in his best suit and put to sleep in a beautiful wooden coffin with a web carved onto it. Tony's saying something, he knows he is.

But the words come out like tasteless soup, spilling out with no reason to be there because should be for Peter, not for these people who didn't know the boy like he did, with the two different aliases the young man had come to be known by.

"Anthony Edward Stark." Tony froze, the name bringing back so many bad memories with the tone of disgust, hate, and anger compiled into one sound. He shivered slightly before he turned around, not bothering to put the glasses he wore over his eyes.

What was the point?

He slowly turns around, not yet wanting to face the fiery eyes of May Parker. 

But she makes him, grabbing his chin to look into her eyes, and he has to watch tears pool and slide off her cheeks. Her lips quivered, but her eyes did not extinguish as they continued to stare at Tony. 

Soon, she let go of him, pushing him back slightly as she shook her head in disappointment.

"I trusted you with him. I-" Her voice caught, her body shivering in the New York fall weather. "You  _promised_ to keep him safe." She turned around and faced him angrily again, her head shaking in frustration and pain.

She stopped moving after a few seconds, then shook her head again. _"I_ never _should have let you take him from me."_

Tony froze as she uttered those words, the icy coldness of them making Tony feel like he was back at the cave, lying in panic as he recovered from the waterboarding.

He remembered the feeling of gasping for breath, only to be shoved roughly back into the freezing water in the desert. 

He remembered the feeling when he watched his only friend and perhaps, the only true mentor, freeze as he realized he had been shot, but still managing to find the energy to push Tony away, to save him.

He remembered that he had been there too late to save Peter.

With those traumatizing words, she left, with her flaming reddish brown hair blowing in the wind, her back turned to him in a final disdain.

 

* * *

 

"Don't tell Mr. Stark, he'll be mad again! I can do this myself. I'll be fine."  _Date: 24 November 2018._

He clicked the button again, listening to the young boy's voice talk to Karen, over and over and over again.

"Mr. Stark doesn't really like me, does he, Karen?"  _Date: 3 February 2019_ _._  Tony wanted to scream, insist that he loved the boy.

"Karen, shush! Mr. Stark will be angry and he might take the suit for good!" _Date: 20 June _2019_. _He remembered that day when he had been so angry that he had taken the suit he had oh so carefully crafted for the boy. 

His hands held the torn fabric, trembling as he caressed it softly. Why had he torn it? Why destroy something that held so many precious memories?

"He hates me, Karen. You shouldn't have called him." _Date:_ _9_ _August 2019._ Peter's dejected voice appeared, startling the man out of his seat, from the same position he had been in for two days. "I only bring trouble..." Peter sighed, "I really am just an F-Rate hero, huh." The boy paused, probably listening to his AI talk to him. He sighed again. "He made this suit because I was being a hassle to watch over all the time, not because he- " Peter's voice stopped, listening to something.

"Yeah, those are gunshots, Karen. Thanks for the heads up." Peter sighed yet again, the depressed mood evident in the boy's voice.

He laughed, a musical sound that Tony had missed dearly.

"I'll be fine, Karen. Just... If I do get hurt, don't tell Mr. Stark, okay? I'd have to apologize for the mess again."

Silence played on the mic, but the sound of swishing wind kept Tony anxious like he was missing something too important that should have been ingrained into his mind from the very beginning. But as he grasped at the straws, they snapped and Tony's fragile mind collapsed.

 

"Aw, yeah," Peter grunted, probably letting go and catching onto another web as he soared through the New York air. "Thanks, Karen. Happy birthday to me."  _Date: 10 August 2019._

 

Tony fell to the ground, his head in his hands as his vision blurred, barely feeling the cold trails of tears sliding down his face. 

 

Not because he realized Peter had died on his birthday.

 

But because he knew, he  _finally_ knew what Peter had said.

 

"I'm-"

 

_"I'm sorry-"_

 

**_"I'm so sorry, Mr. Stark."_ **


End file.
